Zenith

ICT4D Week 2018

Friday, February 10, 2017

Court denies DCA motions to stop ICANN from delegating .Africa

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
has won for the second time the case instituted against the organization by DotConnectAfrica’s
(DCA’s) at a California Superior Court over putting a stop to delegation of
.Africa, reports ITRealms.

This follows the February 3, 2017 judgement by the Justice
Howard L. Halm of the Superior Court, made available to ITRealms, in which it did not uphold DCA’s
second Motion for Preliminary Injunction to stop the delegation of the .AFRICA
generic top-level domain (gTLD) to ZA Central Registry (ZACR).

ITRealms also
gathered that DCA’s first Motion for Preliminary Injunction was denied by the Superior
Court in December 2016.

Equally, ICANN in a press statement endorsed by its Global Communications
Coordinator, Buket Coşkuner, toldITRealmsthat among
other things, Judge Halm had found out that it appeared the "Covenant Not
to Sue" found in the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook is enforceable, citing
to the recent Federal District Court Order in the Ruby Glen, LLC v ICANN
matter, wherein the Court held that the “covenant not to sue” in the Guidebook
is enforceable.

The Superior Court Judge also ruled that “DCA's claims
against ICANN for fraud and unfair business practices are likely to be
barred. As a result, DCA cannot
establish that it is likely to succeed on the merits.”

ITRealms further
gathered that in accordance with the terms of its Registry Agreement with ZACR
for .AFRICA, ICANN said, it would now follow its normal processes towards
delegation.